Recently we moved our site from mineralogy.be to the new address mineralogy.eu
Temporarily our site is still accessible through both URL's but we encourage you to use the new address as only the mineralogy.eu site will remain operational in the future.

To facilitate visiting our collections we also changed the links on the homepage such that the different subcategories may be reached by only one click. This speeds up the consultation of the different parts of our virtual collection.

Furthermore we renewed the way the site-search-results appear to the user. The lay-out has been altered and once the search results are presented there is also the possibility to search for images only. Search may be reached from the scroll down menu and is also available at the bottom of the homepage.

We also changed the means for the delivery of this newsletter by e-mail. From now on, we will make use of the Google Groups facility. This e-mail newsletter will be sent twice a year and will inform you about the activities of the Virtual Museum and about new items added to the collection. If you wish to receive this newsletter go to Subscribe to the Newsletter

2012 is a very special year in the history of crystallography and for science in general. Actually, 100 years ago, Max von Laue discovered that x-rays are diffracted by crystals. This discovery was the basis for a technique that would drastically change crystallography and many different branches of science. Already in 1912 father and son Bragg determined some simple crystal structures. In the decades following Laue's discovery, mathematical methods as well as experimental techniques were improved, enabling the unraveling of complex crystal structures and up to now more than half a million crystal structures are described and available for researchers worldwide.

Rests us to wish you a Merry Christmas and a fruitful 2012 and we hope that you will continue using and enjoying our virtual museum.



Paul Tambuyser
Claude Hootelé